This invention relates to a farrowing box, which has the purpose of providing the sow and all newborn piglets before, during and after birth with the best prerequisites for an unmarred life. It is characterized in that the standing area for the sow and the lateral staying spaces for the piglets can be adjusted to different levels and the piglets can thus be housed fully automatically protected from the sow.
Farrowing boxes and farrowing cages are known having the following characteristics. An iron construction is designed in such a way that the sow stands between the lateral separating frames (therefore called sow separating frames) and cannot turn around. The front of the construction is formed by the trough and the iron barriers, while in the rear, a so-called piglet hoop guard forms a barrier as part of a door, unless a sow is tied up by means of stomach or shoulder belts. Known boxes differ from one another with respect to the adjusting possibilities of the separating frames or parts thereof. Some separating frames can be taken out completely in order to provide the possibility of letting the piglets stay in the farrowing box for some time after weaning from the sow. Other separating frames can be folded away laterally or upwards. Such farrowing boxes have the purpose of preventing the loss of piglets resulting from being crushed to death by the sow and of providing efficient working conditions during daily care. This is achieved mainly by the fact that the sow can deposit excrement and urine only to the rear which facilitates cleaning. By means of this arrangement, unnecessarily soiling of the space for the piglets adjacent to the sow is prevented. In addition, it is a known state of the art that the floor of the pen is made of concrete, rubber mats, wood-block paving or of slatted concrete flooring with a duct for the droppings that is located underneath. It is also known that the arranging of a nest for the piglets or the providing of thermal radiation apparatus or floor heating means is advantageous with respect to the piglets' requirements. When farrowing pens of this type are arranged, it is assumed that they must meet the requirements of the sow and the piglets from the time before birth until weaning from the sow or even until the walking stage of the piglets when body weight of more than 15 kilograms has been attained.
Requirements of the animals must be mentioned because they provide a standard on which the invention is based and are necessary for evaluating the state of the art.
The sow needs quiet and must not be disturbed by noise, by itching caused by dirt, fleas, mites, lice, by an unfulfilled nest-building instinct, by strain on the intestines or bowels, by the wrong temperatures in the pen, etc. This results in relieving the strain on the metabolism, the circulation and the nervous system and permits a quieter birth that is free of complications.
From the first moment of their lives, the piglets must be protected from being stepped on and crushed to death by the mother animal when it gets up, while standing and when it lies down.
Immediately after birth, all piglets need the important colostral milk that contains all defensive and formative substances provided by the circulatory system. (Per suck, five to eight grams of colostral milkpper line are made available within 15 to 20 seconds).
In the intervals between the nursing periods, the piglets need warm and oxygen-rich fresh air as well as a warm space where they can stay, free of drafts, hygienically clean and therefore free of germs, bacteria, viruses, fungi, flies, mites and lice, so that they can sleep and are fit for the next nursing period. In the first days of life, there are about 24 nursing periods each day.
An object of the invention is an increase in the efficiency of the piglet produciion by further reducing losses of piglets. Although the known state of the art is wide-spread and is used in most production facilities, the achieved production results are unsatisfactory. The production results (i.e., the number of piglets produced per sow per year) is a critical factor for the efficiency of piglet production. In the Federal Republic of Germany, for example, an average of 15 piglets per sow per year are produced for all soss kept. This figure is officially documented. In organized production facilities for piglets, the average figure in all government-controlled opeations is below 18, and only a few operations achieve the raising of 20 piglets per sow per year on a continuing basis.
The achieving of the above object is even more urgent since the production costs per sow per year are rising constantly and have already exceeded the market value of more than 15 piglets per sow per year (without accounting for wages due workers). Progress in pig breeding would easily make possible the producing of even more than 20 piglets per sow per year if an excessively large number of piglets did not die before birth or during the first eight days after birth,
A further object of the invention is to increase the national average from less than 15 piglets to more than 20 piglets per sow per year. When examining the prerequisiees, it was found that more than 90% of all piglet losses occur in the time period of three days before birth until seven day after birth
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for the purposes of illustration only, plural embodiments in accordance with the present invention.